Contract Magazine - April/May 2020 - 49

"drawing from all over the DESIGN spectrum..."
How did you end up working with Bernhardt Design?
Cowper: We were first introduced to Jerry through email. Jerry saw
an image online somewhere of a project of ours called Gang Bench
that we shared at IMM Cologne as part of the Pure Talents contest in
January of last year. We didn't see his email for ages because it went
straight to our spam folder. Luckily, we did eventually see it, because
it might have been lost forever.
Then how did the conversation evolve?
Surrage: He proposed the idea of making a mix of tables based
on density-thick and thin. They're all different, but they all
have something that brings them together in kind of a weird,
patchwork way.
Was there any interior-design trend that Jerry was trying to hit
on, or a problem he wanted to solve through this collection?
Cowper: On the trend side of things, we met him at the Hotel Café
Royal in London, and we sort of walked around the hotel lobby
looking at the kind of furniture they had in there, because hotels like
that are the types of clients that Bernhardt caters for. On the trend
side, they had mini collections of furniture, so there would be three
different tables.
Surrage: It's more like they're curated, rather than a family of the
same tables.
So tell me how they're unified more like a modern family,
and what distinguishes each from the others?
Cowper: Jerry said that he wanted one that was Scandinavian-style,
one that was very dense and solid, and others that were very
lightweight. He was drawing from all over the design spectrum-
something that was more organic to something that was more
architectural.
Could you take me through the thinking behind one of the tables?
Cowper: We just got renders of each one yesterday. We'll start with
the Bassa table. It has a very lightweight, traditional-looking base,
and then the top is dished, so it's not flat-it's like a big dish and then
flat across the top.
Surrage: It's a detail that you wouldn't necessarily notice from above,
but when you see it, it gives a very uplifting feeling because the
edges are so thin.
Cowper: This was our sort of Scandinavian concept. This is available
with a wooden top and also a spun metal top, which looks really cool.
We're really exploring how the design, mixed with manufacturing
process, mixed with material could really make something all come
together in one design, which looks really quite dynamic.
Surrage: I don't think Bernhardt had ever spun anything this large
before.
Cowper: So this is a new discovery for both them and us.
Surrage: That's one that we're really proud of.

Changing out the type of material from wood to metal really
alters the table's sensibility.
Cowper: Yeah, and I think it has an honesty to it, because the pattern
on the metal from the spinning process is not adding a finish to
it to make it cool; it looks the way it is because of its manufacturing
process. When you see it, you can kind of connect to how it's made.
Speaking of the production process, were there any hiccups-
any problems that you needed to solve-along the way?
Surrage: With our table called the Colvid. It originally started off
square, but the legs came diagonally across it, making it look like
the corners were levitating, which sounded too good to be true,
and it was.
Cowper: It functioned well as a table, but it really couldn't take
a lot of weight. Two corners were really strong, but if you sat on one
of the overhangs, it would probably bend a bit. It did look cool, but it
wouldn't stand up to the sort of toll of the market it's going to go into.
The final product is round and still has the optical illusion that we
were going for.
Coming out of this process, what did you learn? What was
a big takeaway for you?
Surrage: The speed of the project is something we hadn't
experienced before. We've spent half a year on a project-designing
and making the prototype and sourcing all the materials, whereas
this sort of takes all of that out of our hands. And the best person
has the best job.
Cowper: Yeah, Jerry has a talent for seeing who's the best at doing
each different job. You constantly feel like you're working with
somebody who knows everything about each aspect of the project.
How long was the project from start to finish?
Surrage: About a month.
If you were to work for Bernhardt Design again, is there anything
that you'd like to design for Jerry?
Cowper: I think we're pretty open to designing anything.
Surrage: I mean, we've designed watering cans before. We've
designed cutlery. It really doesn't matter to us. We just really
enjoy creating.

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Contract Magazine - April/May 2020

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